The media is important to everyone. It allows us to find out everything we need to know as well as influencing our everyday lives. However, there are so many different types of media it’s often hard to choose which one we would like to read, watch or listen to. Personally, I prefer to read my news — this way allows me to take everything in at my own pace and give me the opportunity to quickly come back to it later.

Although, ever since buying my Windows Phone I’ve been in desperate need of a capable and fast news application. Eventually, I came across Metro, a free newspaper which is heavily circulating in the UK.

One integral part of any phone is ability to take pictures. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll try to get pictures of everything and everyone in the entire world. That’s why we download photography apps, making the experience even better by adding additional features over the stock camera app.

Last month at Windows.Appstorm I wrote an article entitled “Windows Phone Elite: Photography Apps!” This was a roundup of my favourite Windows Phone photography apps in the marketplace. Each of these apps was brilliant in its own right, but there was one that clearly stuck out. Photosynth. The only app in the world which allows you to take full 360 degree pictures.

Last year when Apple released their iPhone 4s one of the major new releases was Siri. A voice control system which allowed you to manage your phone in a more interesting way. Now that Siri has been around a year, other companies to follow suit, trying to replicate this exciting new implementation of voice recognition.

One of the best Siri clones has been Ask Ziggy, an app which follows the same concept, but on the Windows Phone. Since buying my phone Ziggy has been a firm favourite of mine. Using it in everyday situations to settle debates and set reminders.

October 2011. Nokia was ready to showcase its first effort in Windows Phone with the Lumia 800, only ten months after announcing the switch from Symbian to Microsoft’s operating system as its main smartphone platform. Touted as the “first real Windows Phone”, the Lumia 800 was received with big fanfare from the Nokia fans, and a few shrugs from the Android and iOS crowd, as well as Samsung and HTC who had already released several Windows Phone devices.

Now, eight months after the announcement, the Lumia 800 has been out-spec’ed by the Lumia 900, and out-bargained by the Lumia 710 and Lumia 610, yet it still holds a good place in the Windows Phone ecosystem, with frequent updates and many operator contracts worldwide. Here is my personal review of it, focusing on the specific Lumia experience compared to other Windows Phone devices, outlining the reasons of its success as well as the shortcomings that I’ve noticed over a couple of months of regular use.

Having used Symbian, Windows Mobile, Meego and iOS in the past, and settled on Android for the past 18 months, I have been quite excited to check out Windows Phone’s current offer in terms of ecosystem, OS, and devices. Thus, for the past couple of months, I have been using a Nokia Lumia 800 (running WP 7.5) as my secondary device, along with my primary HTC Desire Z (running ICS). After a series of ups and downs, I have found a lovely cocoon with both platforms, although the back and forth between them is highlighting all the exclusive features in each that I wish existed on the other.

If you could go back in time a year ago and come visit myself, I’d have met an iPhone-toting Apple fanboy who couldn’t say two sentences without bad mouthing Windows. Thankfully, I’m not like that person anymore thanks to the rationality of Paul Thurrott and the totalitarianism of Apple over their devices and software.

So I became a dedicated Windows user, but I was still stuck with my iOS device. Last week I finally removed those shackles and picked up a Windows Phone running 7.5 “Mango”, and I’m going to review some of my favorite features in this article. I’m not going to compare 7.5 to 7.0 since I don’t go that far back, so this review comes from the point-of-view of a converted iOS user.